The Long, Long Night of Hope 2019

THE PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST NORTH VANCOUVER

The 3rd Annual Long, Long Night of Hope Fundraiser, February 23rd, 2019

Imagine it:

You are working more than full-time for minimum wage, but you are still not making enough money to pay rent and utilities.

Or maybe, after decades of faithful employment, you faced forced retirement and now you are trying to live off a meager pension.

With the cost of living constantly on the increase, and minimum wage and pensions not high enough to keep up, more and more people are finding themselves homeless. They are sleeping on the streets or in shelters. They are couch-surfing, relying on the kindness of friends and family. They are sleeping in their vehicles, seeking out safe and quiet neighbourhoods where they can park their car for a night.

They deserve better.

And it is up to us to help them.

Back in 2017, the parish of St. John's Anglican Church launched The Long, Long Night of Hope fundraiser to support the homeless. Partnering with the Lookout Housing and Health Society's shelter in North Vancouver, our goal was two-fold:

1) Raise awareness of the growing homelessness problem in our community

2) Raise money to help the Lookout Society in their important work

The concept is simple - volunteers use social media (Facebook, twitter, email, etc) to raise money on a crowd-funding platform. The fundraising campaign culminates on a cold, winter's night in February, when the volunteers spend the night sleeping (or trying to sleep) in their vehicles.

In just two years, The Long, Long Night of Hope has donated over $30,000 to The Lookout Housing and Health Society on the North Shore. And we are just getting started! Our volunteers are not just St. John's parishioners anymore - they come from other parishes (St. Catherine's Anglican Church put in a great campaign last year!), and from the community at large... we even had our North Vancouver MLA! Anyone who wants to help their brothers and sisters is welcome to join us.

This year is YOUR year! It is so easy to take part! All you have to do is create your donation page on this campaign, and then share the website with your friends and family through social media. While the donations are coming in, plan how you will stay warm while sleeping in your car on February 23rd, 2019.

We need your help to make The Long, Long Night of Hope 2019 bigger and better than ever!

We are looking for more volunteer fundraisers!

We are looking for local businesses to support us!

We need volunteers to help with the event!

There is no cost to register for this fundraiser, and there is no minimum amount to raise. You can join us at the appointed spot and sleep in your vehicle, or you can bring your sleeping bag and sleep in the sanctuary of St. John's Anglican Church. Do you have another idea? Share it with us - longlongnightofhope@gmail.com

Please support The Long, Long Night of Hope 2019! The Homeless are Not Hopeless. Be the Hope!